Portable fire extinguishing device



Aug. 31, 1965 F. RUGGIERO PORTABLE FIRE EXTINGUISHING DEVICE Filed May 14, 1963 fl ff! INVENTOR.

FE r/z/o Ruqymro BY 4 7 warm? 5 thin walled collapsible metal tubes.

United States Patent 3,203,484 PURTABLE FIRE EXTINGUISHING DEVICE Fabrizio Ruggiero, Ing. Umberto Fabbretti, Viale dell Umanesimo 12, Rome, Italy Filed May 14, 1963, Ser. No. 280,333 Claims priority, application Italy, May 22, 1962, 1.tl,098/ 62 7 Claims. (Cl. 169-32) The present invention concerns a portable fire extinguishing device, and more particularly foam type fire extinguishers.

The known fire extinguishers of this type generally consist of an outer, pressure resistant, rigid metal casing containing one of the reactants of the extinguishing compound as well as the internal vessel or vessels containing the remaining reactants. Just before use, the reactants in the internal vessels are poured into that of the outer casing. Therefore there occurs within said casing an instant and violent reaction of the whole contents, with the developing gas instantly rising to high pressures. The consequently necessary high construction standards of the outer casing considerably contribute to render the known portable fire extinguishers weighty and costly.

The sudden rise of the gas pressure within such extinguishers involves three further disadvantages:

The necessity of using for these extinguishers spray nozzles with narrow ducts, these narrow ducts having to act as pressure reducers. Therefore the spray nozzles are subject to becoming clogged by corrosion products or clots formed in the foam passing through them.

The foam contains often still unreacted components and is therefore unhornogeneous, insufiiciently consistent and consequently possesses an only reduced efiiciency.

Once started, the reaction cannot be interrupted, which constitutes a handicap when the extinguisher is to be used against fires burning at various spots, since parts of its contents will be spilled uselessly on the way from one spot to the other.

In the present invention these disadvantages and deficiencies of the known art are eliminated by using, in lieu of rigid containers for the reactants, containers made from flexible material, all of which open into a common reaction chamber. The reactants are squeezed into it by compressing their walls so that the inflow of their contents into said chamber and thus the rate of reaction within said chamber is gradual, not sudden, and anyway capable of being controlled or even stopped by the compression, respective interruption of pressure on said flexible container walls.

The range of the foam jet issuing from a spray tube provided in the reaction chamber is solely influenced by the degree and speed of the compression, not by the gas pressure developing during reaction, as has been proven by tests, and is therefore also controllable. Consequently, also the spray tube can be kept conveniently wide, since no gas pressure reduction is necessary.

The flexible containers can be made from any suitable corrosion resistant material such as rubber, plastics or Polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride hoses are ideal for their low cost, chemical resistance, transparency and weldability. Such hoses can be suitably divided by appropriately led, generally longitudinal sea-ms into axially extending, parallel containers and a reaction chamber, whereby an extremely simple and cheap container construction for the present fire extinguisher is achieved. Obviously each container can be made from a separate hose, and these hoses can be disposed in a side by side relationship, within each other or in any other combination of containers abutting in a common reaction chamber.

3,203,484 Patented Aug. 31, 1965 ice The invention will be better understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective elevational view of one embodiment of the present invention, showing a hose arrangement and its possible attachment within a protective cas- 111g;

FIGURE 2 is a part view of another hose arrangement;

FIGURE 3 is a part view of a third hose arrangement;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view through a clamping device of the present fire extinguisher;

FIGURE 5 is an external view of the casing form rep resented in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is another arrangement of the flexible hose within its protective casing;

FIGURE 7 is a top view of the latter with its lid removed.

The fire extinguisher represented in FIGURE 1 consists in a transparent polyvinyl-chloride hose 1, whose one end is for-med, by two appropriately led seams 2a and 2b, into a reaction chamber communicating, on one side, with the remaining hose over a restriction or neck, and, on the other side, over tube 3, with the open. Coaxially disposed within this hose 1 is a narrower hose 4, whose restricted upper end extends through said neck into the reaction chamber 2. A clamping device generally indicated at 6 closes the communication between the reaction chamber and hoses 1 and 4 by compressing their walls.

The reactants needed for the extinguishing compound are introduced through the open ends of the respective hoses. Thereafter these ends are closed by another clamping means 7.

When the fire extinguisher is used, these ends are wound around means '7 and thus the contents of hoses 1 and 4 are pressed in the direction of arrows a and b into chamber 2overcoming the elastic clamping action of clamp 6-where these contents react and issue through tube 3.

As already mentioned, the length of the jet depends, as it has been proved by tests, directly on the speed with which the hoses are wound up. A perfect reaction within the chamber is readily obtained by correctly proportioning both hoses.

The hose arrangement represented in FIGURE 2 differs from the previously described disposition by the fact that both containers are obtained from a single hose by conducting, as by welding, a longitudinal seam 8 which separates hose 1 into two distinct parallel chambers 1a, 1b extending through the neck into the reaction cham ber 2, for a stretch which permits clamp 6 to compress the walls of each chamber or container 1a, 1b.

A further simplification of the hose arrangement is represented in FIGURE 3, where clamp 6 is replaced by a transversal seam 9 cutting off the communication between the containers 1a, 1b and chamber 2, this scam containing weaker spots 10 which burst open when pressure is exerted upon the reactants in the containers.

The reaction in chamber 2 can be substantially improved by prolonging the common path of the reactants between the neck and tube 3. This may be readily achieved by conducting a number of staggered seams 12, 13 extending alternately from one end well over the center line of said chamber, so that the reactants are forced into a common meandering path, causing them to react more intimately.

It is convenient to render the clamping device 6 yieldable, so that its compression of the walls of hoses 1 and 4 or respectively 1a, 1b is sufiicient to prevent the reactants in these containers from entering the reaction chamber 2 as long as the winding means 7 is not actuated, while the pressure produced in the reactants upon the actuation of the winding means 7 causes the clamping device 6 to open and thus permit the passage of the reactants into said chamber 2. This object is readily obtained by the clamps shown in FIGURE 6. It consists of two rigid, half-cylindrical rods 14, 15 pressed against the hose walls by two elastic rings 16, 17. At the point of compression the hose or hoses are bent into a fold, for a better closing action. When pressure is exerted upon the reactants, the rods are spread apart against the action of rings 16, 17 and the fold straightens out, permitting the inflow of the reactants into the chamber 2. Whenever the pressure on the reactants is interrupted, rings 16, 17 press rods 14, 15 back into the closing position and thus cut off the communication between the chamber 2 and the hoses. By this arrangement this clamp 6 also acts as a check valve preventing the backfiring of the reaction from chamber 2 into the container part of the hoses, even when the pressure ceases. Therefore this clamp also permits a fractional use of the contents in the extinguisher.

It is convenient to lead both ends of one rod, e.g. 14, through two diametrally opposite holes in the casings 27 respectively 34, so that they protrude beyond the casing walls, while the length of the other rod 15 is selected so that its terminal surfaces abut against the inner surface of the casing walls. By this arrangement clamp 6 is prevented from longitudinal and transversal displacements (FIGURE 4).

The hoses are housed within a rigid container which may be either cylindrical or parallelepipedal, such as shown in FIGURES 1, 5 or 6 and is closed by lids 28, 29

respectively 39. These casings may be made convenient- Y ly from cardboard or other cheap rigid material. The casing represented in FIGURE 5 presents two diametrally opposite slots 30 which guide the winding means 7 during its upward movement when it is rolled up. During storage the winding means 7 is inserted in notches 31 of said slots, while the portion 7 of the winder 7, which is conformed as a crank, remains outside the casing. A lateral displacement of the winding means 7 is prevented by two discs 33 fastened to its both ends.

In the arrangement shown in FIGURE 1, the hoses are suspended in casing 29 in such a fashion that tube 3 lies with its opening just beneath a hole 29 of lid 29. In operation the winding means 7 is brought from notches 31 into the guide slots 30 and there rolled up by rotating crank 7 A different mode of suspending the hoses in a casing and expressing the reactants from the container into the reaction chamber is shown in FIGURES 6 and 7. Both ends of hose 1 are attached within the rectangular casing 34, so that the hose takes up the form of a collapsed U. Tube 3 is suspended under the hole 39 of lid 39, while the opposite end of hose 1 is fastened to the mantle of a cylinder 35 which in turn is fastened to a shaft 36 rotatable in casing 34 and ending in a crank 37 located externally of the casing. Beneath the cylinder the hose 1 and eventually, when the arrangement shown in FIG- URE 1 is used, also hose 4 is led through a pair of rolls 38 pressing the hose walls together. When, in operation, the hose or hoses are wound around cylinder 35, the hose walls are drawn through rolls 38 and this exerts a pressure in opposite direction on the hose contents which, after overcoming the resistance of clamp 6 or cross seams 9, 10, flow into chamber 2.

It is obvious that my present invention goes beyond the scope of the examples just illustrated. The essence of the inventive idea lies in the use of flexible and anyhow collapsible hoses as containers for the individual reactants going into the fire extinguishing composition, and in the gradual and controllable inflow of these reactants into a common reaction chamber in which these containers end and where the reaction conditions may be controlled at will by means of the pressure exerted upon the hose walls. This task may therefore also be solved by using as containers separate hoses or any imaginable ditferent arrangement thereof. Similarly the clamping and winding means here illustrated present only a few of the many possible forms thereof.

The various embodiments of my fire extinguisher were tested using as reactants an aqueous solution of sodium bicarbonate in one container and an aqueous solution of aluminum sulfate in the other container, in the concentrations and proportions known in the art, and licorice powder as a foaming agent. Especially with meandereous reaction chambers according to FIGURES 2 and 3 the resultant foam was perfectly homogeneous and tenaceous, possessing a considerable adhesion capacity. The pressure developed by the reaction gases reached only fractions of an atmosphere, so that a danger of bursting the hose walls never occurred.

The length of the foam jet was therefore only controlled by the speed with which the hose or hoses were rolled up. By exerting an only moderate force, such as can be brought up by a person of medium strength, a jet ranging from 20 to 30 feet could be easily produced over a time. This is amply sufficient for those fields of use, i.e. the domestic and automobile fields, for which the present extinguisher is mainly intended.

What I claim is:

1. A fire extinguishing device comprising a casing, a mixing chamber, flexible sheet material means forming a plurality of reactant containers within said casing, extensions of said sheet material means also forming said mixing chamber, said reactant containers having outlets entering into said mixing chamber, valve means preventing free flow of reactants between said containers and said mixing chamber and means mounted on said casing for simultaneously expressing reactants in a given proportion from said containers past said valve means and into said mixing chamber, said mixing chamber having an outlet for the discharge of reacted reactants from said device.

2. A fire extinguishing device as in claim 1 in which said containers are folded into a U-shape with their opposite ends adjacent said mixing chamber and said means for expressing reactants is rotatably mounted on the casing adjacent said mixing chamber.

3. A fire extinguishing device as in claim 1 in which said flexible sheet material means comprises a length of flexible tubular sheet material together with a second length of tubular sheet material disposed within said first length, said second length of sheet material terminating short of one end portion of said first length thereof, said one end portion forming said mixing chamber and said lengths of sheet material at the opposite ends thereof being closed to form said reactant containers having openings into said mixing chamber.

4. A fire extinguishing device as in claim 1 in which said flexible sheet material means comprises a length of tubular heat scalable sheet material closed at one end and having a longitudinal seam extending from said one end to a point spaced from the opposite end to thereby define said two reactant containers and said mixing chamber into which the reactants may pass from said reactant containers.

5. A fire extinguishing device as in claim 4 wherein transverse seams are formed in said sheet material in the portion thereof forming said mixing chamber at said opposite end of the sheet material, said seams being longitudinally spaced and alternately extending inwardly from opposite sides of said length of tubular material to form a tortuous path within said mixing chamber for more effective mixing of said reactants.

6. A fire extinguishing device as in claim 4 wherein the length of tubular material is folded into U-shape within said casing, said closed end of the sheet material being secured to a roller rotatably mounted within said casing, said roller comprising in part said means for expressing reactants from said container.

7. A fire extinguishing device as in claim 4 wherein said opposite end of the tubular sheet material is collapsed upon itself and welded together on opposite sides of sa d discharge outlet and means attached to said casing are secured to said collapsed portions to provide at least in part for the mounting of said length of sheet material within said casing.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,207,534 12/=16 Gammeter 16935 X 1,438,509 12/22 Walker 22298 1,535,529 4/25 Hopkins 222--94 1,790,621 1/23 Hamilton 16914 1,873,2'17 8/32 Reid 222-'102 1,894,115 1/33 Murphy 22294 6 Stra-uch. Winter 1 69-27 X Lemoine et a1 251-4 X Wilt 22298 Stahmer 222100 Smith.

'Lindberg 222145 Matt'son 229-625 Koga 222145 X M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Primary Examiner.

EUGENE F. BLANCHARD, EVERETT W. KIRBY,

Examiners. 

1. A FIRE EXTINGUISHING DEVICE COMPRISING A CASING, A MIXING CHAMBER, FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL MEANS FORMING A PLURALITY OF REACTANT CONTAINERS WITHIN SAID CASING, EXTENSIONS OF SAID MATERIAL MEANS ALSO FORMING SAID MIXING CHAMBER, SAID REACTANT CONTAINERS HAVING OUTLETS ENTERING INTO SAID MIXING CHAMBER, VALVE MEANS PREVENTING FREE FLOW OF REACTANTS BETWEEN SAID CONTAINERS AND SAID MIXING CHAMBER AND MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID CASING FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY EXPRESSING REACTANTS IN A GIVEN PROPORTION FROM SAID CONTAINERS PAST SAID VALVE MEANS AND INTO SAID MIXING CHAMBER, SAID MIXING CHAMBER HAVING AN OUTLET FOR THE DISCHARGE OF REACTED REACTANTS FROM THE DEVICE. 